I made a human. I delivered him to this world a month ago. I stare at the intricacies of his little knuckles, how already complex. The curves of his nose resemble perfectly that of his father; how strong that DNA comes through. His eyes are grey so I won't know if he will have my color or not for a while. There is an emotional bond I have with him that makes me smile every day.
Oftentimes, we cannot help but come from the thought that with so many unknowns and possibilities for error, defects and disease, randomly and genetically induced, it’s a miracle every time a healthy full-term baby is born. A lot of things need to go right for this to happen! From a speck of cells to a 9-pound newborn, our human instructions for development produce diversity beyond our comprehension. It’s fascinating because two humans can never be the same. Diversity is our roots and the basis of who we are. It’s concerning that any form of life can deny that truth and be prejudice to anyone different from them. The making of human beings, or anything that’s alive, is so scientifically complex. Some say we are born three months too early, others say twelve months too early. This is because we are not able to fend for ourselves at birth. Most other “higher animals” (that we are in direct ancestry with) are mature when they are born, in comparison to the “lesser animals”, such as rodent’s and cats who aren't. We humans have the need to bond with our parents. The cuddling, snuggling, and smelling of the baby scent that drives all women crazy to have more is an innate need for female humans. I was wondering why my son can’t see more than twelve inches away at birth. My theory is the need to develop the sound and touch senses, which apparently need more time for maturing. Some call this immediate maturing outside of the womb as exterior gestation. Others say it is culture that forces this bonding need, the teaching of what instincts cannot supply. Culture allows for more than just Mom interacting with the newborn, thus development of social skills immediately begins. Some theorize that our early birth is necessary to accommodate our continually enlarging brains. The need to get out before our heads get too big for a woman’s pelvis is where this thought stems from. Therefore, it can be our brain that is the evolutionary push for us humans to be born too early. There are a lot of women who never go into labor and need to be medically induced. Could it be that they’re the ones that have the pelvic bones that can handle longer pregnancies? But then there is the issue with our placentas not having caught up yet either in evolutionary terms, as they lose functionality substantially after nine months. I could theorize that perhaps some of those women who do not go into labor naturally at nine months not only have larger pelvic muscles but also more matured placentas. If doctors are inducing at forty-two weeks and no longer (due to the placenta functionality slowing down), then will humans ever evolve to where we need to be to accommodate larger brains? Will our heads not get any bigger and our intelligence stalled? I postulate that the placenta is what is holding us back. Placentas need to become more “fit” then perhaps the larger pelvic bones will fall into place after. On another note, later in life humans tend to have issues with disease, cancer, common colds, allergies, and headaches. Some doctors think these are side effects of humans being born early. Humans, like all life, are still evolving. As we increase our head sizes, the rest of our life needs to adjust and it just hasn't yet. Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory will get us to a point of balance at some point. Until then, it is possible that the price of conscious intellect is to blame. It is interesting what we do know about human newborns. We know to suck, which is vital for existence providing the ability to eat. We know how to breathe, our lungs just kick right in, also vital. Thankfully, nature knew to get these right first before pushing us out into our environment with not being able to fend for ourselves. After all, our bodies are biological machines with motors that need to run. It’s most spectacular at the molecular level as those cells are the ones that have always been working since conception. Since these cells spend the most time functioning and living, they have evolved the most! There are so many different “species” of bacteria that it should make us proud to come from a lineage that produced such complex organs like mitochondria and DNA. Our biology will adjust, it’s our history. Food for thought. When the time comes and our placentas and pelvic bones have adjusted, what then would our world be like? Would we have different intelligence because our brains are bigger? What type of skills and talents would we have? How would our goods and evils adjust?
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Kat Lahr
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